Credit unions are being encouraged to participate in “Financially Fit Day” on April 3 to kick off National Financial Literacy Month and a related fundraising campaign, the National Credit Union Foundation said.

Suggestions include a jeans or casual day for staff to help raise funds for the new campaign titled “Credit Unions Support Financial Education: Leading the Way to Financial Freedom,” the Madison, Wis.-based NCUF said.

Fundraising could be as simple as a jeans or casual day for staff, the NCUF said, and additional ideas for the month-long effort are at financialeducation.coop, the campaign website. Also there are other campaign resources including optional pledge forms, sample newsletter articles, sign-up sheets, stickers, flyer, statement stuffer, wall pin-up templates, a YouTube video and Web buttons, the NCUF said.

“Holding a casual day on April 3rd is a simple way for credit union organizations to make an impact on state and national financial education efforts,” said Christopher Morris, NCUF director of communications.

“If credit unions want to do more than casual days or fundraising, we encourage them to be creative in their efforts and use any of our materials as a starting point,” Morris said.

The NCUF and the Texas Credit Union Foundation created the pilot campaign last year to help fund financial education grants and programs through the NCUF and state foundation. Now the effort has gone national and funds raised will be equally split between the NCUF and the respective state foundation.